LAWRENCE, Kan. – It’s official: Kansas has been selected as the overall No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, CBS revealed during its Selection Show on Sunday evening.
The top-ranked Jayhawks will begin their NCAA-leading 27th consecutive appearance in the tournament against Ohio Valley Conference tournament champion Austin Peay (18-17) in the first round on Thursday (3 p.m. Central, TNT) in Des Moines, Iowa, at Wells Fargo Arena. The winner of the first-ever meeting between Kansas and Austin Peay will face the winner of No. 8 seed Colorado (22-11) and No. 9 seed Connecticut (24-10) in the second round on Saturday.
Kansas (30-4, 15-3 Big 12) enters the NCAA Championship as the undisputed No. 1-ranked team after winning 14-straight games, including the Big 12 tournament title with a win over No. 9 West Virginia on Saturday, and its unprecedented 12th-straight Big 12 regular-season title. The Jayhawks have a program-best 11 wins over opponents ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, including a 4-0 mark against top-10 opponents.
This is the seventh-straight season that the Jayhawks have earned a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. In Bill Self’s 13 seasons, KU has never been seeded lower than fourth. Kansas has been a one-seed 12 times (1986, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016).
Overall, the Jayhawks are making their 45th NCAA Championship appearance. KU is 97-43 all-time in NCAA postseason games, including 30 Sweet 16 appearances and 14 trips to the Final Four.
Kansas is one of seven Big 12 Conference teams to earn an NCAA Championship bid, marking just the seventh time in NCAA history that 70 percent of a league was selected. The seven teams tied the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 for the conference with the most programs represented in the tournament.
In all, KU faced 11 NCAA tournament teams in 2015-16. Self, the USA Today National Coach of the Year, guided his Jayhawks through a non-conference schedule that included No. 2 seed Michigan State, No. 4 seed Kentucky, No. 7 seed Oregon State, No. 11 seed Vanderbilt, and No. 16 seed Holy Cross.
— KU Athletics —